THE RUSSIAN PEASANT

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIII, Issue 13714, 3 April 1905, Page 4

THE RUSSIAN PEASANT

(By ROGER POOOCK, in the " Illustrated Mail.") The Russians are just as good, and maybe better, Christians than ourselves, but, just to make sure, they like to keep on friendly terms with the demons who were the gods of their forefathers. To keep the fairies in order, they gather these invisible little people in after the first hard frosts, herd them down to a water in the nearest frozen river or lake, and there imprison them in the cold, wet, dark beneath the ice. That keeps the children and the cattle safe from the pranks of mischievous spirits.- Little altars in the fields are sacred to the old gods, and many dances are given in their honour; 1 just as if they were pagan gods. At the same time, the people are deeply religious. They spit when they see the parson coming, and never speak to him, for fear he should bring bad luck; and yet the whole congregation wo-ald be in a deadly fright if they lost his services. At Easter he gooi H~Z round of the parish blessing everybody and eyerything, but a family which haa no gift to offer is rather apt to get cursed. Money being very scarce, the priest is glad of anything convenient in the shape of clothing, eggs, or potatoes. Apart from the great Orthodox Church, there are many sects, some of them well-living and prosperous, but others with CURIOUS AND MOST UNPLEASANT CUSTOMS. One of these sects is that of the SelfMutilators, who take literally the text, "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out." The practice of self-mutilation being forbidden by law, a policeman once pretended to join the sect, in order to get evidence. He got more than he wanted, being surprised and mutilated of" eyes, etc., which the faithful considered to be superfluous. One of the strange est sides of peasant life is the vasfi number of pilgrims who tramp the roads, bound for Jerusalem, or to get the blessing of Father Ivan at Cronstadt; or to pray at some holy shrine. I saw among the relics in the superb cathedral of St Isaac a knuckle-bone of St Andrew, which was just the right size for a cow. The mummy of a saint at the Solaveteky Monastery, in Arctio Russia, wears out a pair of slipperß every year in its imaginary travels. The Royal Family attributes the birth; of an heir to the throne to the intercession of a saint whose mummy was! found of late near Novgorod. ■ This saint was much beloved by wild beasts, but disliked by the peasants, who burned him out of his hut. He died of his injuries forty years ago, but the body has come to light in per.fect preservation. Many people are really healed: by faith in Russian saints who would otherwise succumb to the village doctors. Next in importance to the Church is the village bath, where every Saturday the people throw water on hot stones and soak themselves in the steam. The women wash first, and then the men. As the peasant always washes his one suit of underclothes at the same time, he runs from the bath stark naked, and in winter takes a roll in the snow on his way, as a great refreshment. t evefy, russian village has its rarish council, consisting of the heads of families, male or female. This commune is called the Mir, and it owns 'the .village farm. Each field in the farm is cat into strips, one for each member, and every few years the whole of the land is redistributed. This ruins any member who lias tried to be good and improve the land. The community keeps all its members equally poor. The elected chairman collects the taxes from the members, and pays the whole tax of the Mir to the Government. A member its allowed to go to town to get rich, but the Mir takes care that he pays his tax, and sometimes threatens to recall him unless he pays a great deal more than his share. ' ' The village has also a court of peasant judges, who punish for small offences. Each Mir sends a deputy to the County Council, or Zemstvo, which has also members to represent the towns and the nobility. The nobles who run this parliament pay great respect to the common-sense of the peasant deputies. As no peasant can afford to travel, a noble represents the Zemstvo at the provincial parliament. This, however, is not a free assembly, but mixed up with the corrupt officialism of a rotten central Government. The two great features of home'life are the stove of solid masonry, which serves as a bed place, and the samovar, in which coke is used to boil i water for tea. Such a machine is t<f ! be found in every household, from hut | to palace. I No room or shop is complete without ! an ikon, or holy picture, in the corner, I and every man must uncover on en-' | tering to salute the saint. The pic- | ture is covered with bright metal work, | save for the face and hands of the figj ure, which are painted on a panel unI derneath. I In summer, nearly all the men and. ■ many of the women wear long boots— I THE BADGE OF THE PEASANT, as distinguished from the aristocracy, j who in civilian dress are entitled to : trousers. In the towns a peasant who woars trousers over his boots is supposed to be enlightened and have liber- : al views, which are rather scorned by ! the real working classes. To be truly smart in town, and entirely up-to-date, men wear goloshes with long boots. It looks funny, and makes the feet sore, but men will suffer much for the Bake : of vanity. | The large towns are built almost eni tirely in blocks of flats and tenements j surrounding courtyards. These yards ■ are in charge of the yard porters. Their work is to carry wood I and water, sometimes to take the rent, but always to secretly reportto the po- ] lice the movements of suspicious per- ! sons. These dvorniks are all' spies, | part of A GIGANTIC SYSTEM OF EAVESDROPPING AND ESPIONAGE by which the Church and the Government are able to keep a check on people's opinions, and punish them ruthlessly for holding erroneous views. Tha dvornik is "also useful in checking crime, for he jumps to help the police in case of an arrest or disturbance. The coachmen seem to live in their carriages and cabs, as one finds them asleep at all hours while they wait in, the street. They drive with reckless gaiety over everything and everybody, but take good care of their horses. It i is a tradition that the driver must look : fat, so if he lacks natural padding ha makes up for that with plenty of extra; clothes. As very few people can read, and as the shop windows are so frosted I in winter that" nothing within _ can be seen, the shopkeeper covers' his front walls with mighty fine pictures u ! bright colour of the goods he keeps tor Bale. The vegetables in the picture, are so large and shapely that it is better not to go inside, for fear of being disappointed. The Russians take a lively interest in soup, made usually of fermented beetroot or sour cabbage, sometimes with bits of beef, and adornment of sour cream on top. The bread is inada of rye, dark brown in'colour, rich and sweet in taste.